Murray Pura's Preacher Man Series II - Wicked Christmas - Complete Series by Alessandra Dagostino

Murray Pura's Preacher Man Series II - Wicked Christmas - Complete Series

All FOUR stories in Alessandra Dagostino’s series are now together in one ebook: 

Volume One - Sweet Evil 

A castle in Germany. Christmas is on the way. Snow is on the mountain peaks and carols are in the air. But the castle holds a dark secret. So dark that Preacher Man has to be reactivated and sent into the thousand year old citadel to put things right. But this time the evil is above and beyond anything he has experienced before. It is so powerful and so invasive it is enough to bring a strong man to his knees. Even a saint. Even Preacher Man. 

Volume 2 - Bad Angels 

The atheists want to take the Christ out of Christmas. So does the secular crowd. So does all the Wicca and pagan organizations. Now the satanists do as well. They want Christ out and the devil in. And they have sent some very fallen and very lethal angels to make their dream of a Christless Christmas come true, a Christmas where Satan and overindulgence rule and love and goodness cease to exist. 

Volume 3 - Carpe Noctem 

Angelika was a devil worshiper and raised to hate him and trained to kill him. But now, to her shock and surprise - and anger - she has fallen in love with him, Preacher Man, the great enemy of hell and the devil and all the children of darkness. Now she is a cauldron of confused loyalties and mixed emotions. Now she has to choose between destroying the man she loves and staying faithful to Satan or turning to God and fighting by her lover's side. As the supernatural battle within the Castle boils out onto the mountain slopes of the Brocken, Angelika has only Christmas Eve to decide where she will place her heart. 

Volume 4 - Christwalkers 

The battle to prevent Satan's incarnation moves quickly from Germany and then to Rome. Soon even Angelika is taken from Preacher Man's side and he is all alone. Exhausted, weakened, having spent hours and hours without food or drink in the midst of vicious spiritual warfare, he must face a devil at the peak of his powers, a devil strengthened by the spells of his followers and the blood flow of their human sacrifices. Preacher Man is a christwalker and will make his final stand in the power of the Christ. But will his faith, tied as it is into his very human soul, be enough in his fight against the Prince of the Power of the Air? 

The Guru's Review:

At the end of Preacher Man, Series I, I asked Murray Pura if there was to be a Season II. He was undecided but agreed that it would be good. I accepted his decision. Then lo and behold, within weeks of that brief conversation, it is discovered that Series II is released and with a different author! But this was no deterrent to jumping into this second series. And I am glad I did! I now have a new author to add to my favourites list. 

Dagostino has developed Series II extremely well and taken this series to the next level. It is definitely darker and I guess seeing how Series I finished, this was inevitable. In taking it to this next level,  Dagostino has included more anticlimaxes, more spiritual warfare, more victories by the Spirit of God and in the use of Jesus name with increased edgy, speculative plot lines. We still have the same Preacher Man but he has a different persona due to the increased threats on his life as the occultic forces seek to capture and sacrifice him in order for satan to be incarnated into human form and then succeed in total world dominion. 

Dagostino has proved in this debut, that she knows her subject matter. In an interview that I have conducted with her, she states that she has been involved in deliverance ministries since she was 18 years of age and still assists in this. I find that when an author writes from personal experience and from what they know, the reader has one very credible and sound story. When it is a Christian author who does this, then we have one very biblically sound novel. Such is the case here. This also means that Dagostino has shown her credibility and integrity as an author and committed Christian.

I have said this before in previous Christian fiction reviews that I believe one of its aims should be to not only entertain but educate as well, and any reader cannot come away from reading this complete series (including Series I) without any knowledge of the reality of the occult and biblical spiritual warfare principles. In this way, this series achieves this very well and is a credit to Dagostino for adhering to these principles. 

This is one very intense and powerful read on one very serious subject and Dagostino has very cleverly lightened this without detracting or watering down this subject matter by adding romance element heavily embedded in the plot. I loved this side of the series. This romance seems to give Preacher Man some balance as a man, preacher, spiritual warrior and christwalker (this latter term and spelt with a lowercase "c" is described well in Volume 4.) I am really hoping that if there is a Series III that this romance will be further developed as such but also further embedded into the spiritual warfare side of this series.   

I know that by saying what I am about to say is almost cliché, but the way both authors, Pura and Dagostino, have developed both series, it would make one very enjoyable and educational, action packed movie on par with some of the secular movies involving occultic themes.

I totally agree with fellow reviewer, Marian Baay, who ended her review with the following, 

If you enjoy some good and intense writing and are not afraid to be drawn into a powerful story that deals with evil and wickedness that can only be conquered by God’s holy power and Christ’s work on the Cross, then this is an excellent read for you!

This is one highly recommended series and expertly written debut novellas. I look forward to more from Alessandra Dagostino. She has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in edgy speculative Christian fiction.